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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
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Servicemember Sues Illinois for Gun Permit

BELLEVILLE, Ill. (CN) - An Air Force member on active duty in Illinois says the state's concealed carry law unconstitutionally bars her from getting a license because she is from out of state.

Ella Samuel sued Illinois State Police Firearms Services Bureau Chief Jessica Trame in St. Clair County Court, on June 5.

Samuel, a Montanan stationed at Scott Air Force Base, is assigned to security and has military training on pistols, rifles and machineguns. She does not have an Illinois driver's license, but has been issued a temporary Firearm Owners Identification Card.

The state police told her there is "no mechanism" by which she can get a concealed carry permit, either as a resident or nonresident and that "it is a criminal offense" for her to do so without a permit.

Samuel, who wants to be carry a gun off base for protection, says she "is willing to undergo whatever additional firearm training, over and above what she has already received, in order to legally carry" a gun in Illinois.

She says the state's lack of a mechanism for out-of-state military personnel stationed in Illinois violates the Second and 14th Amendments. She cites rulings from the Seventh Circuit and the Illinois Supreme Court, that a total ban on carrying arms for self-defense outside of the home is unconstitutional.

She asks the court to declare the Illinois Concealed Carry Act unconstitutional as it applied to nonresident members of the military stationed in the state, and an injunction, plus costs of suit.

She is represented by Thomas Maag of Wood River.

Attempts to reach the defendant for comment were unsuccessful.

Illinois was the last state in the country to pass a concealed carry law, in 2013.

The Democratic-controlled Legislature overrode a veto by then-Gov. Pat Quinn that would have included numerous restrictions on the permit.

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